Detach Yourself From Past Experiences - Read And Lead: Masterclass 2026

Reading the book The Courage To Be Disliked by Kishima and Koga with Gurdeep Kaur and Sandeep Dutt, on the 1st of November 2025.

From the session, I understood that when we avoid doing something due to insecurity or fear, we often deceive ourselves psychologically. Our mind and body are deeply connected, and such avoidance can manifest physically in the form of headaches, stomach cramps, or other discomforts.

In my personal experience, whenever I am afraid of doing something, I start shivering. I am usually aware of the reason behind this fear, which makes me realise that I need to consciously reframe my thoughts. By convincing myself with a strong and positive belief that "I am confident about this"—and truly feeling it rather than merely saying it—I can overcome the anxiety that holds me back.

I also learned that this practice can be applied to many situations in life. By detaching ourselves from past experiences and focusing on the present with confidence, we can develop greater emotional resilience and self-assurance.

Shalu Sharma

Sunbeam School Bhagwanpur

Our past does not control our present. We have the power to decide what meaning we give to our past experiences.

Change is always possible.

Everyone can change and become better — if they choose to.

Trauma is not the end. It may influence us, but it does not determine our future. We decide how to move ahead.

We often create excuses without realising it. Sometimes fear and anxiety are created by us to avoid things we don't want to do.

Anger can be a tool.

Often, we use anger to dominate others or force them to listen to us.

Happiness is a choice, not a gift.

We don't wait for happiness to come — we create it through our thoughts and actions.

Self-pity blocks growth.

When we continually feel inferior or compare ourselves, we stop recognising our own strengths.

Courage comes from accepting ourselves. Loving who we are — even if others disagree — is the real courage.

Akanksha Pandey, 

Sunbeam School Mughalsarai

Why not join us?

If you are a passionate educator, grab this opportunity, open to teachers and individuals who want to enjoy reading and reflection every Saturday at 5:30 PM, for only Rs 3000 annually.

https://pages.razorpay.com/LearningForward

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Recording of the last book reading session

Tom Vs Jerry - Sunbeam Bhagwanpur

Teenage boys who tease girls often believe they are being playful, funny, or even “cool.” They might see it as harmless fun, a way to impress their friends, or an attempt to get attention. However, what they fail to realize is that their words and actions can be hurtful, uncomfortable, or even damaging.

This behavior can stem from immaturity, peer pressure, or a lack of understanding about respect and boundaries. Some boys may not even recognize the impact of their teasing, brushing it off as a joke, while others may intentionally use it as a way to assert dominance or mask their insecurities.

True confidence and maturity, however, come from treating others with kindness and respect. Instead of trying to gain approval through mockery or teasing, real “coolness” lies in being empathetic, understanding, and standing up for what’s right.

Smriti Tiwari
Ayushi Chowdhry
Sunbeam Bhagwanpur

World Health Day - Kusum Sharma

April 7 of each year marks the celebration of World Health Day. From its inception at the First Health Assembly in 1948 and since taking effect in 1950, the celebration has aimed to create awareness of a specific health theme to highlight a priority area of concern for the World Health Organization.

Over the past 50 years, this has brought to light important health issues such as mental health, maternal and child care, and climate change. The celebration is marked by activities that extend beyond the day itself and serves as an opportunity to focus worldwide attention on these important aspects of global health.

Theme 2021: Building a fairer, healthier world for everyone

In recent years, countries in the Western Pacific have experienced rapid economic growth, migration and urbanization. This created opportunities for better lives for many but left others behind. The COVID-19 pandemic has undercut recent health gains, pushed more people into poverty and food insecurity, and amplified gender, social and health inequities.

Courtesy- https://www.who.int/westernpacific/news/events/world-health-day

Kusum Sharma

The Fabindia School

ksa@fabindiaschools.in

Oh! Education!

Sitting here in India at the fag end of 2017, what do I experience within myself when I think of the state of education in our country today? Do I feel elevated, excited or thrilled? No, I don't, with an emphatic 'no'. A certain dullness and boredom fills my mind resulting in a big yawn!

Keeping an allowance for my extreme views, education today means endless drudgery and slavish slogging both for students as well as teachers through the length and breadth of our country barring isolated pockets of excellence here and there. Teachers' role is limited to purveying information in various disciplines which students are supposed to mug word for word and get it out of their systems during the exam. They need not be original in their approach or show any signs of really having understood the underlying concepts or having reacted to the course content in their own individual way! The best answers are those which are a verbatim reproduction of the text. So much for the thrill of learning!

While I don't have much of an idea about the state of our professional courses, some of which charge hefty fees, the above situation prevails in most of the state and privately run primary, secondary and senior secondary schools in our country. But exceptions are always there depending on individual motivation. We humans are like animals in many ways and our lives mostly revolve around seeking creature comforts for ourselves. But since we are gifted with a brain and, more importantly, a will, we are not content with satisfying our earthly desires and basic urges. We all look for something deeper, something more thrilling, more meaningful and challenging in our everyday existence! And here is where education comes in!

Education is a quest into the unknown with its thrill of discovery, peace of understanding and awakening of realisation! It gifts us with a new vision and a new perspective on the world. Do our lessons as taught by our teachers tease or challenge us, or draw us out enough to throw and plunge ourselves headlong into the depths of the unknown and experience the thrill of exploration? I am sorry, but in most cases the teacher lays bare the entire course content and application thereof to the pupil and all that the student has to do is to commit it to memory and know it forward and backward. We leave nothing to the inquisitive genius of the pupil.

There is no thrill of discovery, or the excitement of exploration, or the fulfilment of having overcome a challenge and learnt something new through the dint of one's painstaking effort and application. Such is the state of education in a country which is not tired of drumming its old glory and tom-tomming about our ancient centres of learning like Nalanda and Taxila and our pioneering work in the field of Mathematics, medicine, surgery and astronomy! 'सा विद्या या विमुक्तये' - True knowledge is an acquisition of the mind that liberates us. Liberates us of what? True knowledge sets us free of our bondage and breaks the shackles and fetters that impede our progress. What is it that keeps us in bondage and what are our chains?

As teachers do we seek and experience comfort in following a pattern of educational learning and teaching given to us several generations ago? Do we encourage questions and queries from our students, or our lessons are mostly one way traffic where we just deliver the course content? Are our lessons interactive enough where students also contribute by offering their own inputs and comments? Do we encourage original thinking in our classes, or spurn any deviation from the established pattern? Do we treat any original thinking and questions as a sign of revolt and nip it in the bud? Are our classes vibrant sessions of give and take of ideas between the teacher and the pupils or a monotonous drone by the teacher with the best students even only passive listeners? It is here in our day to day classes where we give confidence and self assurance to our children by allowing them to think on their own, or put shackles and fetters around their minds by restricting free flow of ideas, thus stunting their growth. What goes by the name of educational instruction in most of our schools today is the dry, uninteresting and unexciting delivery of the syllabus. How can this sort of education liberate us?

'Knowledge, our light' is the beautiful motto of The Doon School, though not expressed in so many words. And how true it is! What is knowledge? What darkness does it dispel as a source of light? Can good education help us become free of our superstitions? Has our education empowered us to think on own? Has our education equipped us to think in an organised, logical and rational manner? Has it enlivened our imagination so as to enable us to step into other people's shoes, empathise with them and share in their cares and concerns? Has our education made us good citizens who understand their responsibility towards their society and their fellow citizens?

Has our education broadened our thinking and vision to step out of 'the narrow domestic walls' of the faith we were born and brought up in and acknowledge and accommodate other faiths as only different paths leading to the same destination! Besides academics which is only a narrow slice of education does our education sensitise or refine our faculties to enable us to appreciate a beautiful poem, a painting, a symphony or a 'raaga' and so on and so forth? Or after having completed fourteen years of schooling do we know little else beyond the syllabus that we mugged for our unending tests and exams? Did our school help us develop some skill of hand or eye or cultivate in us any genuine and abiding interest in our life? If it didn't it failed to impart real education and failed in its duty by us. Did our school teach us that a difference of opinion is normal and nothing to be afraid of while enforced conformity is a sign of regressive and retrograde thinking? Did our school teach us that civilised humans settle their differences through debates and discussions rather than fisticuffs? If it didn't it failed in its duty!

What is the role of a teacher or a guru? Before the teacher takes up his first lesson he should ask himself whether he likes his profession and has a genuine interest in the growth and advancement of the young learners under his charge? He has to lead them by the hand and has to have great energy and enthusiasm to be able to lead his charges by personal example. If the teacher is a learner himself he is surely going to enjoy himself and bound to succeed as a teacher. As the Vedic prayer goes- ऊँ सहनाववतु सहनौ भुनक्तु सहवीर्यं करवावहै तेजस्विना वधीतमस्तु मा विद्विषावहै । ऊँ शान्ति: शान्ति: शान्ति: ।। (May that Brahma (ब्रम्ह) protect us both- teacher and disciple; May that Brahma nourish us both; May we work in harmony with great vigour; May our study be illuminating and fruitful; May we not hate or be envious of each other; Let peace abound everywhere!).......An ideal prayer for the teacher as well as the learner!

For those of us who have been or are in the teaching profession 'learning' should be the operative word, the prime concern and passion, for both of us, teachers as well students, are on a common quest of knowledge, knowledge that will help us overcome our ignorance and inborn prejudices and evolve as better humans. For that to happen we have to keep the windows and doors of our minds and hearts wide open and allow a constant flow of fresh ideas! 'आ नो भद्रा: क्रतवो यन्तु विश्वत:' (Let noble thoughts come to us from every side!) goes another Vedic Prayer and how appropriate for us all!

UC Pande

Principal, Great English Teacher and a wonderful Mentor! 

His email address is ucpande3@gmail.com

Insecurity has a strange construct

Insecurity has a strange construct - an insecure person wants to live convinced of his insecurity. Status-quo is the most comfortable state. Change is difficult because it has to do with inside of ourselves. Change starts with belief in truth and that is tough.

The easiest thing to do when one feels insecure, threatened from something or someone is to go into denial, become protective of one’s sentiments and resist change. Easiest thing, so it comes first to us.

Thus, the question we face is – How to become supporters of change?

Becoming supporters of change would primarily mean focusing on ourselves for change to happen. Our sentiments are irrational; they often lack logic and direction. Our sentiments are selfish and want to be gratified. We want everyone to listen to us and we don’t want to listen to anyone.

A mother recently shared with me that when her son was young, he ate more sweets than allowed. This angered her so much that she forced him to eat all the sweets in the box. She said, “Now (almost after a decade) I feel bad and wonder what temper made me do so!”

The first step for change is a true aspiration for change. Relationships build the basic construct of everything in human society and every relationship starts with oneself.

Don’t get bogged down by how difficult or impossible ‘change’ appears. Don’t leave it because no one believes in you; don’t leave it because it’ll not earn you fame or following. Don’t leave it because it makes you an odd one out in your peer group.

Change is a process and is a powerful choice that you make for yourself. A belief becomes powerful when you start to live it with compassion, adhering to truthful practices in spite of challenges and lack of support. You chose to follow best, truthful approaches to solving/facing life situations.

Change happens by the cultivation of a compassionate heart. Change always starts from within. It’s not a business plan well-written on a piece of paper that you start to execute; it’s a decision to practice compassion, no matter how severe the tide of irrationality, distrust, anger, selfish sentimentality may be – you stick your head above all and keep practising change – never the easy, comfortable route!

-- 
Venus Upadhayaya, is a columnist for Brewing Knowledge